Literacy Strategy
Vocabulary Snowball
(From Building Blocks – Helen Nicholls)
You will need a rolled up ball of paper or a koosh ball for this activity OR Instead of throwing a ball, place students in teams and run as a competition – every member of the team must have a turn at contributing a word.
Purpose: To help students predict what words might be in a topic, or to help revise key words .
Instructions:
1. Name the topic to the students e.g. ‘Olympic Games Disciplines/ Events’
2. Appoint one recorder to write down each words as they are said.
3. Students stand in a circle. Teacher (or student) stands in middle and throws ball to a student.
4. Student says one word associated with the topic which the recorder writes down. [e.g. Shotput]
5. Student throws ball back to teacher etc.
Extension:
Students then come up with 3 or 4 categories and organise the words they’ve written down. [Track, Field, Aquatic, Needs equipment, uses mainly legs etc]
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